The present invention relates generally to the manufacture of thin-film photovoltaic modules. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and tool for extracting a supersized chamber used for the manufacture of thin film photovoltaic modules. Merely by way of example, the present invention provides a tool for lifting and extracting a supersized bell jar chamber against gravity load without causing stress-related failure.
Solar energy technology generally converts electromagnetic radiation from the sun to other useful forms of energy. These other forms of energy include thermal energy and electrical power. For electrical power applications, solar cells are often used. Although solar energy is environmentally clean and has been successful to a point, many limitations remain to be resolved before it becomes widely used throughout the world. As an example, one type of solar cell uses crystalline materials, which are derived from semiconductor material ingots. These crystalline materials can be used to fabricate optoelectronic devices that include photovoltaic and photodiode devices that convert electromagnetic radiation into electrical power. However, crystalline materials are often costly and difficult to make on a large scale. Additionally, devices made from such crystalline materials often have low energy conversion efficiencies. Other types of solar cells use “thin film” technology to form a thin film of photosensitive material to be used to convert electromagnetic radiation into electrical power. One advantage of the use of thin film technology in making solar cells is to form modules direct on large sized glass substrates. That requires, at the same time, supersized processing system for treating the thin film cells associated with the large sized glass substrates. Additionally, the processing system is subjected to routing maintenance for maintain thin-film process reliability for enhancing solar cell efficiency depending on applications. Often, conventional tools for handing the supersized processing system are either not available or unfit for newly developed system.
From the above, it is seen that improved apparatus and method for handling new supersized processing system for the manufacture of thin-film solar modules are desired.